US: President George Bush set out yesterday on a six-nation trip which reflects the profound shifts in America's strategic relationships arising from differences over the US-led invasion of Iraq, writes Conor O'Clery North America Editor
Mr Bush's first stop, Poland, provided a symbolic 200 troops for the war and is organising a 7,000-strong force from eastern Europe for peace-keeping duties in Iraq.
The former Warsaw Pact country is being rewarded for its role as the centre of what Washington calls the "New Europe", former communist countries now more sympathetic to US goals than the "old Europe" of France and Germany.
The alignment with "new Europe" comes at a price. The central and eastern European nations have fewer resources than western Europe's big industrialised countries.
The Pentagon's search for international troops to replace battle-weary US forces in Iraq has fallen short of expectations, forcing the US to keep more personnel there than planned.
So far Washington has got commitments of only 13,000 troops from about 25 countries (the Pentagon won't name them) to augment 150,000 American and 15,000 British troops.
Mr Bush is not planning, therefore, to worsen the divisions in Europe, and will make a speech in Krakow on his vision of a new transatlantic relationship, which is expected to go some way to restore prewar ties.
Russia is the next stop for Mr Bush, who is said to be more willing to forgive President Vladimir Putin for "being led astray by bad companions" as one official was quoted as saying.
Mr Bush is ignoring Germany, and White House officials have made clear he is only going on to France from Russia because it is the location of the G-8 summit. He is cutting that visit short to proceed to the Middle East.
Meeting foreign reporters before leaving the White House, Mr Bush said he was ready to move ahead in the Washington-Paris relationship, but that "the French leadership has got work to do to convince the American people that they are concerned about the security of our country."
In an interview with France's TV3 he adopted a more conciliatory tone however, saying, "I'm not mad. I mean, I'm disappointed, and the American people are disappointed. But now is the time to move forward."
Mr Bush will meet Mr Chirac privately (it will be a courtesy call, not a summit) but he will do no more than shake hands with anti-war German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, with whom he has not had a conversation in a year.
At the G-8 summit, President Bush will claim the high moral ground on development policies with his $15 billion initiative on AIDS, voted through Congress last week with convenient timing.
He may also ruffle feathers with his argument that the EU is aiding famine in Africa by its ban on genetic foods, though he has been undermined by the withdrawal of Egypt this week from the US-Egypt-Canada case to the WTO against Europe's ban.
"There will be no need for air conditioning" at the G-8 summit, said Mr Sandy Berger, former national security adviser to President Clinton. "The room will be nicely chilled."